Where a shop is located, its size and what it sells determines whether it is exempt or non-exempt from the state's shop trading laws. This in turn determines trading days and hours, including for weekends and public holidays.

Shop trading hours extended due to Coronavirus

To help alleviate pressures due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19), again with the support of advice from SA Health and the State’s Chief Medical Officer, the Government has declared a further exemption that extends 24-hour weekday trading and additional weekend trading hours for another 30 days.

The exemption means that non-exempt shops in the Adelaide CBD and suburbs (excluding motor vehicle and boat dealers) can continue to trade extended hours up to and including Thursday, 18 June 2020. Those hours are:

2020 Easter trading arrangements

Easter Saturday trading arrangements have changed following the Government's decision to extend shop trading hours to alleviate pressures due to the Coronavirus.

An additional exemption has been declared that allows motor vehicle and boat dealerships to trade until 5pm on Easter Saturday if they choose.

The recent exemption that allows Easter Monday trading in the Adelaide suburbs still applies.

The Millicent Business Community Association has been granted an exemption for non-exempt shops in the Millicent Shopping District to trade from 9.00am to 5.00pm on Easter Saturday. The hours that non-exempt shops can choose to open over the 2020 Easter holiday weekend are summarised in the table below.

2020 Anzac Day trading arrangements

Saturday, 25 April 2020 is the Anzac Day public holiday and there is no substitute or additional public holiday when Anzac Day falls on a Saturday.

Anzac Day trading arrangements have changed following the Government's decision to extend shop trading hours to alleviate pressures due to the Coronavirus. As a mark of respect for Anzac Day exempt shops are also asked to remain closed until 12pm.

Christmas trading arrangements

The 2020 Christmas trading arrangements have not yet been announced. The 2019 trading arrangements remain on this page for reference purposes.

2019 trading

In 2019 additional trading hours for non‑exempt shops were approved by the State Government in the lead-up to Christmas and for the post‑Christmas sales period.

Normal trading hours occurred on all other days.

Two exemption notices were published in the SA Government Gazette on 7 November 2019 that provides non‑exempt shops with a range of additional trading hours that includes Boxing Day (26 December) and 'Black Friday' (29 November).

An important condition of the exemptions was that anyone working during these extended hours did so on a strictly voluntary basis.

The additional trading hours for the 2019 Christmas trading period were: